Here are my favourite eight books of the second quarter of 2023. One or two of these might make it into my top four books of 2023. Still a long way to go. While I read a lot of crime novels all of these books are other genres, as a crime novel needs to be totally unique and exceptional to make it into my favourites. So here we go.

Lyrics For The Loved Ones by Anne Goodwin

Having just finished it, I am still reeling from the sheer brilliance of this book. I have previously read Matilda Windsor is Coming Home, which I thoroughly enjoyed (though parts were difficult for me to read – you can see my review for the reasons) and Stolen Summers, but Lyrics for the Loved Ones is in a league of its own.

I confess it did take me awhile to work out who was who and the relationships between eg Gloria, Tim and Brendan, Wesley and Oh My Darling (Clementine), Denise aka Mrs Jefferson and Goodnight Irene and Scarlett, who Matty calls Bluebell etc. Then there are the Loved Ones ie the rezzies (residents), their rellies (relatives) and all the other names for the various characters. I loved the names. I tried to work out the connections with Matilda Windsor, but could only remember Irene and her relationship with Matty’s brother Henry.

For my full review click here

Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

If you were looking for a light-hearted, funny read, you might be surprised. This is not The Good Karma Hospital. I am devastated. Not because it’s not Good Karma, but because there are images I will never get out of my head. Why are people so cruel to each other? I don’t understand. We could all live together in peace so easily.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is a masterpiece and everyone should read it. Because it’s not just about the predicament of the Tamils or outright racism. (Imagine being asked a question and giving your answer in Tamil. Having petrol poured over you and being set alight. Answer in Sinhalese and they let you go.)

For my full review click here

The Forgotten Garden by Sharon Gosling

I’m not normally a sentimental old romantic but this book left me an emotional wreck. I cried buckets, but then I did have Covid when I read it, so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Luisa MacGregor is in a rut. After her husband Reuben died in an accident, she hasn’t been able to move on. Never having worked as a landscape designer, the degree in which she mastered, she works for a dreadful boss, lives with her sister Jo and has put her love life on hold forever. That is until she is gifted a piece of land in the rundown seaside town of Collaton on the north-west coast of Cumbria. She can turn it into a beautiful community garden – it was Reuben’s dream to do something like this – but can she make it work?

For my full review click here

Preloved by Lauren Bravo

I love browsing charity shops, especially in places like Wimbledon or Oxford where the quality of the donated items is really good. I don’t dwell on the history of the items though – most are not really interesting enough – but I may do so now.

But what’s so special about Preloved is the staff. Most of the people who volunteer in our local charity shops are over 75, think Next is a designer brand, and wear polyester that looks like a hairdresser’s overall. I jest and I apologise.

For my full review click here

Vita And The Birds by Polly Crosby

The Unravelling was one of my four favourite books of 2022 (and probably all time). Therefore I had great hopes and expectations for Vita And The Birds. I was not disappointed. I love the cover to start with.

In 1997, Eve Blakeney returns to the place where she spent her summers with her four brothers and her Bohemian mother Angela. During these holidays they hung out with the local teenagers and her brothers’ friends who came to stay, having picnics on the beach and drinking. Angela was not exactly a traditional mum. On one of these nights, Eve and Henry’s friend Elliott, both intoxicated, accept a dare and go off to explore the disused Cathedral of the Marshes. It’s dangerous and scary and lots of myths surround it. Then an accident and the discovery of a painting change Eve’s life forever.

For my full review click here

The Dictionary Of Lost Words by Pip Williams

Absolutely fantastic! Who knew that a book about compiling a dictionary could be so emotional and beautiful.

It’s a combination of fictitious characters like Esme and her father ‘Da’, and others like Dr Murray, his daughters Elsie and Rosfrith and Ditte who really existed. The author gives some of the real people more importance and personality in the story than we know as real – Ditte for instance is very central to the book, but in reality we know little about her in real life.

For my full review click here

Vulcana by Rebecca F. John

Seeing as my son is a novice strongman, how could I not want to read this book. The feats of strength they perform today would no doubt make Atlas and Vulcana look tame in comparison, but while Atlas – William Roberts – may not have been all he purported to be, Kate was undoubtedly exceptionally strong for a woman.

Kate ran away from home when she was sixteen to be with William, who she had met when she was fifteen. He was twelve years her senior and already had a wife Alice, who was a number of years older than him (old enough to easily be Kate’s mother), and they already had five children (reportedly). While Kate remained passionately in love with William until the day she died in 1946 at the age of 72, his relationship with Alice was very different. Kate and William had at least four children together, or maybe six – accounts vary – though they never married. Alice looked after them as well as her own, while Atlas and Vulcana toured, often for months at a time. It all seems a bit strange to us, but Alice was happy with the arrangement and she and Kate became good friends.

For my full review click here

The Fascination by Essie Fox

This is one of my favourite books of the year so far. I simply adored it. I don’t read that much historical fiction, but when I do it has to be unique and something special and this is. It’s the third book I’ve read this year which involves music halls, entertainers and ‘freak shows’, and The Fascination did not disappoint.

It’s mainly the characters – Theo Seabrook, disowned grandson of Lord Seabrook, the twins Keziah and Tilly, sold by their quack medicine-man father to the mysterious ‘Captain’, Aleski Turgenev based on real-life Fedor Jeftichew, better known as the Dog-Faced Boy, a sideshow performer in Barnum’s circus, Martha who hid her face because of a disfiguring harelip and Dr Eugene Summerwell, owner of the Museum of Anatomy in London, who becomes Theo’s employer.

For my full review click here